A kissing dare
by Ruka Jaganshi
Summary: Cliché scribble with a superfluous beginning that pretends to provide a meaningful context. (wait, was the summary supposed to attract readers?)


**A kissing dare**

„That's a bummer cause it's not gonna happen," Seiya laughed along with the others.

"Pity," Setsuna sighed with lousily faked sympathy.

Haruka didn't blame her; a quarter hour ago, the guardian of the Time Gates was forced to reveal her smurf collection, and it was the windsenshi's doing. But who was she to alter the rules of _Truth or dare_ , a cruel game where the point was to devastate the other?

Her annoyance and slight embarrassment manifested in a lopsided smile as the other senshi discussed the current dare in a flushed excitement. They were in the living room of what was mostly referred to as the Tenou Residence: the family house where the Outer Senshi lived, the largest private area where they could come together to welcome back the visiting Starlights. The mood had been lively all afternoon, there was plenty of barbecued meat for everyone, and even arguments or insults stayed on a merry level. The jamboree peaked towards the evening, when Minako suggested this generic party game and quickly met enough support for starting it.

And now Haruka was to French kiss with her most despised rival for an entire minute.

"She based her idea on the stuff we heard on TV recently," announced 10-year-old Hotaru. "The old man said it's possible to fall in love with anyone if you kiss at least for a minute."

"What was the punishment for not doing a dare?" Yaten inquired.

"No one had a better idea," Makoto sighed, "so it's Minako's unoriginal _running around the block naked_."

"Hey, it's only so widespread because it's a good one," said the goddess of love.

Meanwhile, Haruka refused to show her dismay, even if Setsuna's revenge was completely rightful. Sitting comfortably by the window, in her mind she was seeking a way out. She thought her options through: being humiliated in front of hundreds of strangers and forgotten in a day, or being humiliated in front of a few acquaintances and reminded till the end of times. Neither seemed alright, but she couldn't ignore the fact that she was somewhat famous, so the first option could definitely not be the wise choice.

"Go, get it over with," Seiya suggested to the windsenshi merrily.

Her pale eyebrows arched in surprise.

"What do you mean? You, the big heartthrob, are scared of a little snogging?"

"You can try, but you can't taunt me this time, I'm not that stupid," he sang, comfortably stretching his legs out in the armchair he occupied.

She would have disagreed, but this one time, she kept it to herself, tactically letting Minako speak up before her.

"Come on, you're in the most popular boy band of the decade, nothing can ruin your image," said the blonde.

"It's not about others' opinion, you know," Seiya enlightened her. "It's a matter of self-evaluation."

"For once in this life, very well said," Taiki complimented him from the table where he was reading a book.

Minako tilted her head in brooding.

"But I still don't get it. So where do you put your limit between a peck on the cheek and a dance of tongues?"

The raven-haired popstar faltered for a moment as he thought about how to answer. Haruka took the opportunity and gasped at the hint of red on his cheeks, making sure everyone could hear it.

"Look at that, the big boy is still completely innocent," she awed.

"That isn't a decisive factor now," he shrugged, smiling at her confidently.

"No, it isn't," she hurried to agree with overacted seriousness. "Except it forces you to defend your virgin tongue in exchange for your pride,"

"Virg-...? Pride? I have my pride, there is nothing endangering it," he announced, visibly torn at which point to defend.

"So admitting your weakness doesn't even make you feel embarrassed? That's quite admirable."

"What weakness do you mean?" he muttered in confusion.

She leaned forward towards him.

"Your weakness against speaking about tongues. Do you even know what we're talking of?"

She bit the inside of her lip not to chuckle at the additional shade of crimson creeping on his forehead. Of course he knew. She pressed on.

"Based on that research, I bet you believe that making out with me would be too much of a strain on your emotional defence. You'd grow to like me, and that would give me an advantage at destroying you."

He guffawed at that.

"Now you're just making things up to save yourself."

Haruka shrugged and crossed her arms while a wide smile spread on her lips.

"I don't envy myself, it's tough to be this irresistible. It seems even the biggest blockheads fall for my charms eventually."

"Maybe in your dreams, windbag."

"I'm an all-charmer," she sang for herself, ignoring the nickname.

"No, you're not," he objected.

She turned to him again then, examining his face curiously. He returned her gaze, and he inwardly scorned his own soft side. Because it wouldn't shut up; it kept suggesting that the humane solution was not letting her receive the inhumane punishment. Neither of them would be broken from this, it couldn't, wouldn't hurt him. First kiss, alright. He didn't think it would matter if the second one happened in real love. Even in the worst case, it would provide some experience, and a good laugh for later.

And there went the heart, knocking out his proud head with a single hit.

"Give me a chance to prove you wrong," he asked her with resignation.

Cheering was heard from several of the girls around.

"Michiru, please leave for a bit," Haruka requested seriously, not taking her eyes off the victim, knowing that it would give him an opportunity to change his mind and redraw.

"Because you think that'll make it unhappened?" the violinist was curious to know.

"Or do you want me to catch a cold outside so you have to look after me all week?"

The daughter of the sea was convinced; she stood up with a huff and retreated into the kitchen, shepherding the whining Hotaru in front of herself. Haruka couldn't have the luxury of comforting her now; it was to happen later when her own image of invincibility had been defended.

And right after all this hassle, her idiotic mind invaded her with the thought that she might really be Seiya's first kiss, the most important one in a person's life. What she was going to do now was utterly selfish, and though she considered him her enemy, and she knew she was going through with it for her own sake if he was wimpy enough to let her, she felt a strange reluctance towards ruining something this precious.

Her gaze was on the ground when she walked over and urged him to shuffle to the side, playfully squeezing into the armchair next to him with her legs over one of his thighs, smirking at him as she placed an arm on the backrest.

"Find a comfortable position, because this is going to be your longest minute ever."

"I can't imagine it otherwise," he responded nonchalantly.

"Hold on! Can you please wait till I get my camera?" Makoto asked quickly.

"Forget it," Yaten snapped instead of the two offended parties. "I'm not answering all those sensitive reporter questions after it gets on Youtube."

The windsenshi rolled her eyes and leaned in towards her rival, his gaze lifting on her face at her approach.

"Just mouth, right?" she asked over her shoulder from the audience. "No hands or anything."

"As you wish, I mean both of you," Setsuna shrugged, apparently still sulking at her.

"Leave it, there is nothing for _you_ to grope around here," Seiya grinned. Haruka acknowledged it and turned back to his impudent, flushed face.

"Start the timer," she told the girls glancing back again.

"It's fine," Minako huffed, annoyed. "I'll start it the moment your lips touch his finally, and you just have to listen for the beep."

She felt his breath slightly brush her neck. She hummed affirmatively, and she gazed at his collarbone for a moment, then gently took his upper lip into hers, letting go for a moment immediately. She wanted to be at least sympathetic and not intrude his private sphere roughly.

"Look, Taiki, it's happening," Yaten awed.

"Yes, very interesting," muttered the brunette, buried in the book in his hand.

Haruka's hand slid on the popstar's neck to adjust his head with her thumb. She moved slowly, taking her time during the second taste. He was unresponsive, his eyes almost closed, but she could feel his breath when she let go. When she proceeded to his lower lip, hers filled up with blood. It was a familiar softness she touched, but she could still sense the difference on an instinctual level. The scent wasn't Michiru's, as wasn't his faint attempt to respond suitably. She let go again but didn't go far, their noses touched for the momentary break. Why she needed it wasn't clear, she was quite the passionate kind with her lover; it might have been the fact that he wasn't a regular guest in her intimacy.

When she kissed that lip again, it felt hotter than before; she took it as a sign that what she was doing wasn't that awful to him. Unwittingly relieved, she deepened the kiss only slightly. Tilting her head, she let her lower lip slide along both of his, culminating in a peck around the corner of his mouth. She repeated the motion, but it wasn't the same: he was kissing back.

Their teeth clashed. Reminded of their existence, she brushed them against that throbbing lower lip. She inhaled the silent hiss of air leaving his mouth like it was a heavenly feast. In a bitter-sour-sweet notion, it coiled around her tongue, stung her taste buds. _The cognac_ , she thought; the one that one of the girls brought along as a visiting gift. A glass of it, mixed with lemon juice, had indeed been in his hand. He had been laughing with the girls at the moment she remembered now, a world still separating his perfect teeth from her.

Another break she took, this time for a full exchange of air in her lungs, meanwhile her thumb sliding under his ear, finding rest on a fast-pulsating vein. She slid her own upper lip on his teeth while caressing his, or _he_ did it, she couldn't even tell any more; she was more interested in reliving that taste again, her tongue moved in the assumed direction on its own. She made a weak effort to hold back when the tip of their tongues brushed; but the way he shifted his weight in his seat made her want to use the momentum and delve deeper, then quickly draw back to give him space, her lips unintentionally sucking on his in a desire to stay.

He was a fast learner; he met her halfway next, and their lips brushed only lightly as she induced a short dance of their tongue tips. Or did she? She felt him just come to life under her mouth, and their rhythm matched for the next moves; she felt like he knew exactly when she intended to get more of that peculiar taste, or when she only went in for a wet, very tickling brush of lips. Speaking of it, her fingers felt ticklish, too. She enjoyed the feeling of his short locks caressing their skin as her hand slid towards the back of his neck slowly. He was leaning into their contact now, and she wanted to slide her entire arm around his shoulder, to take in the comforting warmth that radiated from him, but suddenly, she remembered.

Taking long breaths, she observed the swollen redness of his lips absently, and she compared it to the throbbing of her own. A few seconds passed until the storm in her brain conceived the right message: it was time to draw back into a less personal sphere and gather information about where she was, when, how and why.

"Yep, the bell has rung," Minako grinned behind the fingers of her hand supporting her chin. "Your _toil_ is over."

"The lead-in was too long," Haruka breathed faintly, barely grasping why she was making up excuses. "I was afraid she'd make me do it again."

"Actually…" Setsuna started teasingly, but she let her friend interrupt.

"No," the windsenshi pointed out and clambered off him, the former place of his hand on her hip feeling chilled from the air.

She leisurely hopped onto the nearby sofa before she'd stumble from dizziness, and she received the giggling of the group like they were showering her with admiration.

"What's up, didn't like what you got?" Yaten grinned at his raven-haired sibling, whose eyebrows were furrowed.

"No, it was okay," he answered briefly.

"Perhaps it should be asked in a _truth_ turn later," Taiki suggested nonchalantly from his book.

But even though the game continued, night came soon and Seiya never got asked.

After everyone thanked for the hospitality and said goodbye, Haruka ended up on the sofa with a pillow and a blanket. But it was expectable that Michiru didn't forgive easily; in a way, it was heart-warming to see she cared sufficiently. However, the sofa wasn't the most comfortable place after the giant vintage bed in their bedroom, and the sharp ticking of nearby clocks also teased her exhausted nerves. She lay on her back, too hot to tuck up but too cold to stay uncovered, staring at the ceiling and waiting for sleep to finally bless her.

The message on her phone arrived unexpectedly at the inhumane hour, and she clambered around curiously to reach it from the sofa.

After a blink at the screen, she had to laugh out loud, she couldn't help it; the intoxicating sense of victory suppressed her manners for that minute.

She was an all-charmer~

The mostly empty cognac bottle leered at her from the table. She eyed the dim moonlight illuminating its label for a while; a goofy, absent, lopsided smile was tugging on her lips. Then she got up again and reached for it with a swift movement. She snuggled back onto the pillow with her loot, pressing it to her lips upside down, so the remaining sip of the stinging fluid rolled into her mouth and enveloped her tongue.

 _\- END -  
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